Sony Xperia Z5 Review

Performance and Benchmarks

The Snapdragon 810 processor paired with 3GB of RAM did wonders for the performance of the Z5. Even our initial Antutu benchmarks gave a top score of over 60,000. This makes the over-all experience smooth and fluid, even with multi-tasking and playing graphics intensive games. What we noticed though that the device tends to get warm pretty quickly though it’s nothing near uncomfortable levels.

Based on Antutu results, this is also the most powerful configuration of the Snapdragon 810 we’ve tested. It got a score of 60,423 which is significantly higher than the LG G Flex 2 (51,696) running at the same speed and OnePlus 2 running at only 1.77GHz (54,309). Perhaps some optimizations in the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop of the Z5 also added to the total score.

The device tends to warm up during heavy tasks such as games and even prolonged video recording. We’ve have an instance or two that the camera app automatically shuts down due to high temperatures. This was during our half-hour outdoor photo shoot for samples.

Call Quality, Connectivity and Battery Life

In our standard battery test, the Xperia Z5 lasted between 10 to 11 hours of video loop playback at 50% brightness and 0% volume. Using PCMark Battery Test, the Z5 got a score of 8 hours and 6 minutes for the full 2,900mAh capacity. This is exactly the same score the Galaxy A8 got with its 3,050mAh battery and slightly better than the Xperia Z3 (flat 8:00 hours) with its 3,100mAh capacity. In a way, the Z5 and its Snapdragon 810 chip is more efficient in power consumption by around 8% over the Xperia Z3 if we were to base it on the PCMark Battery scores.

In our standard video loop test, the Xperia Z5 got an above average battery life of 11.5 hours running a video at 50% brightness and 0% volume.

The unit only comes with a standard charger despite the fact that the Z5 is capable of really fast charging. It took 15 minutes to gain 10% charge which translates to about 2.5 hours from zero to full charge.

Call quality is excellent with voice calls coming in crisp and clear while sending and receiving SMS is fast. Cellular reception can be picky at times which could be due to the metal and glass materials used in the body of the unit. LTE connectivity is fast but that really depends on your carrier and location. It supports both LTE networks of Globe and Smart.

Conclusion

The last time we considered an Xperia handset as the best smartphone of the year was back in the very first Xperia Z. This time around, the Xperia Z5 has all the makings of a strong flagship handset plus a few bells and whistles. It’s elegant, gorgeous and packs a mean punch.

It has its own share of shortcomings like the placement of the volume rocker, slow camera app, absenxe of wireless charging, elevated temperature and shaved off battery capacity but those are trivial observations we think we can easily gloss over.

The Xperia Z5 may not have all the best features compared to other flagship devices but it threw in the right combination and offered a solid offering that is hard to pass on.

The Sony Xperia Z5 is now available in stores with a suggested retail price of Php35,990USD 613INR 51,991EUR 584CNY 4,466 and comes in black, green, white and gold.

Sony Xperia Z5 specs:
5.2-inch IPS LCD @ 1080×1920 pixels, 403ppi
Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810
ARM Cortex A53 1.5GHz quad-core, ARM Cortex A57 2.0GHz quad-core
Adreno 430 Graphics
3GB LPDDR4 RAM
32GB internal storage
Up to 200GB via microSD
LTE Cat. 6 Single SIM, Dual-SIM
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, DLNA
NFC
Bluetooth 4.1, A2DP, apt-X ANT+ support
GPS with aGPS, GLONASS/Beidou
IP68 certified
23MP rear camera, autofocus, LED flash
5.1MP front-facing camera
Fingerprint Sensor
FM Radio Tuner, RDS
microUSB v2.0 (MHL 3 TV-out)
2,900mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
146 x 72 x 7.3mm (dimensions)
154 grams (weight)

What we liked about it:
* Gorgeous and elegant design
* Impressive camera quality
* Great performance
* Water-proof feature
* Great display quality
* New fingerprint sensor

What we did not like:
* Gets warm quite fast
* No wireless charging
* Quite expensive